Public Health Nursing

Abstract

The Nursing Division of the League of Red Cross SocietiesAt the time of the foundation of the Red Cross Societies at Geneva, in 1864, there was recognition of the value of nursing as an indispensable part of its activities, and recommendations were made from time to time relative to the type of person best fitted for nursing service. Ever since 1907, there have been peace-time programs in the Red Cross Associations for training nurses in the care of the sick either through short special courses, or the formation of training schools attached to hospitals, with the idea of preparing them for participation in any emergency such as war, epidemics, or floods, which might arise. Since the World War, the conception of the nurse's function has broadened to conform to our larger viewpoint in regard to health work. At the medical conference in Cannes in 1919, it was recommended that a department of nursing, under the direction of a qualified nurse, should be organized as part of the League of Red Cross Societies. The purpose of this department was to assist the Red Cross Societies in their different countries, and to establish a postgraduate training center. Certain resolutions about the needs in regard to nursing service were drawn up at that time. Soon there followed the formation of the Nursing Advisory Board, representing various nursing organizations from different countries, and the recommendations of this board, which were accepted by the Third General Conference of the League in 1924, were in line with the resolutions introduced in the earlier conferences. They were: 1. That the development of nursing should form a vital part of the program of each national Red Cross Society. 2. That societies should endeavor to stimulate the development of schools of nursing of the highest order in their respective countries provided that institutions of this character do not exist. 3. That, in future, national Red Cross Societies should designate as Red Cross nurses only those graduated from these schools of a high order, and that the group of women trained by Red Cross Societies for emergency purposes be designated by some such title as Voluntary Aid Detachments, or Sanitary Aids, and should serve under enrolled Red Cross nurses. 4. That national Red Cross Societies should promote the efficient education of public health nurses, whenever the Red Cross Society is engaged in health activities where public and private organizations look to the society for assistance in health work. 5. That national Red Cross Societies should endeavor to promote in the minds of the public in their respective countries the national importance of the nurse, and to work for the advancement of nursing education and the improvement of the social and economic status of the nurse. 6. That national Red Cross Societies should enroll in a nursing reserve all the qualified nurses in their countries who would be in a position to respond in time of war, disaster, or epidemic. 7. That each national Red Cross Society should appoint an advisory nursing committee of leading nurses and representatives of the medical profession, and of the health, educational and hospital authorities, to study the needs, determine the activities, and guide the development of any activities undertaken by the Red Cross.